AB InBev’s studio head is out, the latest marketing shakeup at the Anheuser-Busch parent company following the Bud Light fiasco.
But now Denowitz is out. In a LinkedIn post, she attributed her departure to the company’s crisis following its Bud Light debacle. Bud Light faced months of conservative-led protests and falling sales over its partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
“With the Bud Light situation earlier this year, the company experienced its largest brand crisis in its several-hundred-year history. The impacts are being felt far and wide,” she wrote, adding that the company is “prioritizing resourcing shorter-term impact initiatives vs longer-lead-time strategic bets like brand entertainment. While I am disappointed that a promising initiative with such momentum was cut-short, I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity I was given.”
An AB InBev spokesperson said the company would continue its work in entertainment but didn’t elaborate and did not comment on the reason for Denowitz’s departure. Denowitz didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Still, Denowitz’s departure is likely to sow doubt about AB InBev’s commitment to the arena. To date, no projects have been announced.
Brands investing in films and TV series continue to face internal challenges in justifying such projects over marketing tactics that can be more easily tied directly to sales.
The Anheuser-Busch controversy started in April when the company sent Mulvaney a personalized Bud Light can for a March Madness contest. AB InBev put two Bud Light marketing execs on leave in April, then announced in July it would lay off hundreds of workers, or about 2% of its US staff, after sales slumped in the wake of the controversy. The fallout has dragged down US performance for two quarters in a row, even as AB InBev beat expectations in the most recent quarter.
AB InBev CEO Michel Doukeris said on an earnings call October 31 that after getting customer feedback on Bud Light, the company would focus its marketing on popular outlets like football and the UFC. He also said a survey found that over 40% of lapsed Bud Light drinkers said that they are now more open to returning to the brand.
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